"Do you have proof from Spirit Hall?" The Grandmaster turned around, his face gentle. On his usually rigid face, a rare trace of a smile appeared.
"I have it right here!" Old Jack hurriedly took out the proof from Spirit Hall and handed it to the Grandmaster before him, whose status was clearly no ordinary matter. He was exceedingly respectful.
Even the Grandmaster wouldn't treat an old man and two children with cold indifference.
He accepted their proofs from Spirit Hall with both hands.
"Martial Soul: Green Onion? And he actually has innate second-level Soul Power?" The Grandmaster first looked at Du Hao's proof. His expression didn't change in the slightest.
But when he saw Tang San's proof, his expression changed dramatically!
"Innate Full Soul Power... and his Martial Soul is Blue Silver Grass, too. This..." The Grandmaster raised his head, his rigid expression suddenly growing remarkably animated.
His gaze lingered on Du Hao and Tang San, and he gradually grew excited. "Which one of you is Tang San?"
"Teacher, that's me..." Tang San raised his hand, his little face full of confusion.
"Mm, excellent!" The Grandmaster nodded excitedly, gripping the proof tightly in his hand.
Then, suppressing his excitement, he turned to Old Jack. "Elder, allow me to apologize on behalf of the academy first. Leave these two children to me!"
"I'll personally take them to the registration office."
The Grandmaster was extremely worked up now. He had probably already noticed that there was something unusual about Tang San's Martial Soul; even his voice had taken on a light, cheerful tone.
"Thank you, Grandmaster! I won't keep you any longer, then. Sorry for the trouble."
Jack had been a village chief for many years, and he'd managed to keep the village running in good order. He had a keen eye and naturally understood the pros and cons.
Fortunately, Old Jack didn't say anything more.
He merely gave Du Hao and Tang San a few reminders, then slowly made his way back the way he'd come.
After Old Jack left,
the Grandmaster finally composed himself and turned to Du Hao and Tang San. "Children, let's go register at the administration office first."
"Thank you, teacher!" Tang San was still at a loss, and when he heard the Grandmaster call out, he replied instinctively.
At that familiar, affectionate form of address,
the Grandmaster chuckled and shook his head. "Teacher? I'm not a teacher at the academy."
"You're not a teacher here? Then why did you just say you'd represent..." Tang San looked at the Grandmaster in confusion.
Beside Tang San, Du Hao watched the scene with little interest, glancing around.
Ever since they'd arrived,
Zhu Zhuqing, who'd been following close beside him, had suddenly disappeared. He had no idea where she'd gone.
Just as the Grandmaster and Tang San were chatting away, a familiar voice rang out from inside the academy.
"Ah Hao, over here." He looked up and saw Zhu Zhuqing, looking completely different, trotting over.
"Zhuqing? Where did you run off to just now?" He looked at her in confusion. She'd changed out of her maid outfit and was now wearing a plain short-sleeved shirt.
"I was sitting in on things here earlier. I just went back to the dormitory to change." Smiling, Zhu Zhuqing showed off her black, fitted short-sleeved shirt.
With a sweet smile, she showed off to Du Hao. "How do I look?"
Du Hao stroked his chin and gave his verdict. "I think the maid outfit looked better..."
Hearing Du Hao say it so bluntly, Zhu Zhuqing rolled her eyes at him and tapped his head. "What do you have rattling around in there all day?"
"I only wear that outfit once in a while. You want me to wear it every day?" By the end, Zhu Zhuqing's cheeks had turned a little red.
"I think that'd be fine..." Du Hao cradled his head and muttered his disagreement.
Beside Du Hao, Tang San watched with great interest. Even the Grandmaster stopped speaking and turned to look at the pair with a strange expression.
Are children these days really so precocious? What did I just hear? At such a young age... a maid? That's pretty stimulating. They've got quite a thing going...
While the Grandmaster's thoughts ran wild,
Tang San was the first to come back to his senses. He looked at the Grandmaster, who was still lost in thought beside him.
"Teacher! Where were we?" Tang San tugged at the Grandmaster's clothes, trying to bring him back to their earlier conversation.
After all, he didn't have the complete memories of a transmigrator, and he was still curious about certain things. Being taken on as a disciple was also a novel experience for him.
Watching this scene turn the natural order upside down,
Du Hao, who'd already stopped talking, didn't know what to say. At a time like this, shouldn't the Grandmaster be the one to offer him a disciple quest first?
How had Little San managed to take the initiative?
Wasn't something off here? The main plot seemed to have gone completely off the rails.
Sigh, my little maid really was the best. She'd paid my tuition and arranged everything for me.
Now that was the good life~
After a series of farces,
the Grandmaster finally came back to himself and led Tang San and Du Hao to the administration office.
At the administration office, both of them enrolled at Notting Academy without a hitch. Tang San was a Work-Study Student, while Du Hao was a regular student who paid tuition.
Du Hao was thrilled after registering. It was his first time staying at school in another world.
"Little San, my place is near Dorm Seven. We're going the same way, so let's go together."
After all, his first meeting with Xiao Wu had been pretty novel to watch as a spectator. He had to go take a look, right?
As for competing with Tang San for the heroine, Du Hao was taking a go-with-the-flow approach. Tang San wasn't the Buddha Ancestor Tang of the original story anymore, after all.
Whether this world would keep following the same trajectory was still an open question.
He couldn't let Tang San be there for his first meeting with Xiao Wu, of course.
If Tang San really was this world's child of destiny, Du Hao wouldn't interfere too much. After all, he'd watched the kid grow up, and the boy didn't seem bad at heart.
As for Tang Hao, he wasn't like the original story, where he ignored everything and left Tang San to fend for himself like an 'abandoned dad.'
All in all, he was still something like a father.
As for why their relationship had turned out this way, Du Hao had thought it over. Maybe it was because Tang San hadn't pulled any tricks when he was little.
He hadn't done anything to make Tang San's father suspicious. Otherwise, just like in the original story, they wouldn't even have been father and son.
It would've been more like raising a potential threat. There was no way Tang Hao hadn't noticed that there was something wrong with his son in the original story.
After all, any normal person would find it odd if their young son was far too mature for his age and practiced strange techniques even they didn't understand.
Anyone with a halfway decent brain would notice that something was off.
Thinking about this, Du Hao glanced at Tang San's back as he walked ahead, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly.
"Lucky for you, you're not very sharp. Otherwise, your dad would probably have raised you like some stray kid..." Du Hao said this so quietly that even Zhu Zhuqing beside him didn't hear.
Tang San, walking ahead, suddenly shivered and looked around in confusion.
"Why do I feel like there are treacherous subjects trying to harm me..."
Before you continue